Junior Year Box Set

I made my way through the food line and loaded up on eggs, bacon, and sausage links. They had tea and juices, so I also got an OJ. A couple of businesspeople were just leaving, so I was able to snag a small table. I was just finishing when Mercedes’ friend sat down with me.

“I know you’re going to be devastated, but Mercedes hooked up with some random dude last night, and I haven’t seen her this morning.”

“And here I had such high hopes that she was the one.”

“I bet you did. You handled her very well. Did you have a good dinner last night?”

“Yeah, I sure did. We went to Pappas Brothers Steakhouse,” I said.

“I’ve heard good things about that place. I think I’m jealous,” she said. “Would it be okay if I ate with you?”

“I think I’d enjoy that,” I admitted.

I glanced over at Dave, and he was staring at her. Kelly was obviously unhappy with him. Mercedes’ friend joined the breakfast line, and when she came back, she had loaded her plate up almost like I had. I liked a woman who could eat.

“So, what brings you to Houston?” I asked.

“We have cheerleading tryouts.”

“Who with?”

“The Houston Texans.”

“No way. I know some of them. Well, ‘know’ is a little strong. They worked at a football camp I attended for the last two years, and I met them there.”

“You play football, too? I thought you were here for baseball.”

I was startled when someone sat down with us. It was Kaitlyn, the Texans cheerleader I was smitten with.

“Oh, Honey, this one is trouble.”

“Hey, guess who turned 18?” I asked with a big smile.

“Wait, you’re only 18?” the girl who hadn’t given me her name yet asked.

Turned out, her name was Rebecca. Kaitlyn told her what a flirt I was and how I made all the other guys at the football camps jealous, with her help.

“You have new pictures up on the website,” I said and waggled my eyebrows.

“I wish you were older,” Kaitlyn said, ruining my morning.

“Oh, I’d go easy on you. I’d hate to see you break a hip.”

“I’m not that old,” Kaitlyn complained.

“Thank God. I was worried about you. Give me your phone,” I said.

I put my number into it.

“I’ll be here the rest of the week and then through Monday of next. Except for Saturday when I have to fly to LA for the day. Call me, and I’ll take you out.”

Mom said that you had to assume the sale. Kaitlyn at least looked amused. Rebecca suddenly became my newest best friend.

“If you don’t call him, give me his number, and I will.”

“Can I bring my boyfriend?” Kaitlyn asked with a smirk.

“He’d just be a third wheel unless you found him a date. I’d hate for him to feel uncomfortable.”

“Come on, Rebecca. We need to leave before I decide to go out with him.”

“Hang on. We need to take pictures,” I said and waved M.E. over.

She took our picture for me, and I sent Kaitlyn a text with a copy of it. Kaitlyn closed her eyes and shook her head when she realized I had her number. She should learn never to hand her phone to anyone; you might suddenly have a stalker. At least I was upfront about it when I sent the picture to Lily to have her plaster it all over social media.

When they left, M.E. wanted the scoop. So I wouldn’t have to repeat myself, I had her get Dave and her best friend over.

◊◊◊

I was planning to go down and work out when there was a knock on the door. I opened it, and Kelly, M.E.’s best friend, was there.

“What’s with the sign?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah … hang on. You have to sign this before you can come in,” I said, handing her the clipboard with the document Fritz had given me.

She read it, shrugged, and signed it. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do with it once I got it, so I just put the clipboard on the desk.

“What can I do for you?” I asked when she came in.

Kelly looked nervous, which made me nervous. Then she sat down on the side of my bed, and the tears started. Really? I sat at the desk and just became quiet. Honestly, I didn’t know Kelly all that well. She was M.E.’s best friend, which told me she had to be a little weird.

Despite her hot body, M.E. had to be one of the ugliest girls I’d ever met. Kelly wasn’t ugly, but she was a big girl. Not a big girl as in heavy, big girl in that she was six feet tall, and I would guess weighed 180 pounds. She reminded me of an Amazon warrior, big-breasted and sturdy.

A good comparison would be Anna Nicole Smith, a Playboy centerfold who had married a rich old man when I was little. He’d died, and the family was up in arms when he left her his fortune. When I’m old and rich, I plan to do the same. My kids better get theirs before Pops buys his last wife.

“How did you and M.E. meet?” I asked to distract her.

“She moved to our school when I was in third grade, and she was in second. The kids took one look at her and started calling her ‘Horse Face.’ At lunchtime, I found her sitting beside the school, crying. I’d caught a toad at the bus stop in the morning. I pulled it out of my pocket to show her, and it was dead,” she said, and a small smile crept across her face.

“You showed her a dead toad?” I asked. “That couldn’t have been good.”